Oh Bodhi

I have been experiencing the test of patience lately. Puppy sitting.
Oh, Bodhi.
After he has chewed up the remote, a pen and all the toilet paper, he places his chin on my lap and gratuitously slobbers all over my leg and looks up at me with those big liquid baby browns, and I just melt cause he is oh-so devilishly handsome.
And after he bites my ankles while we are walking and prances just in front of me so that I continue to stumble on him, he sits on me during my meditation and lets out an audibly human sigh. I descend to the place where we are one and the same.
I have had a profound awakening to the realization that I must have been much like my four legged friend when I was a teenager and I am feeling first hand some similar emotions my parents must have had. Knowing that his immaturity is not a personal attack on me, and his mischievous subtleties not attempts to make me tardy or frenetic, or take away my sacred time. He is just a kid after all.
We are becoming good friends and often converse with nature and listen to the trees talking together. We sit quietly and shake hands with the twigs and the grass.
My patience seems thinner when I am getting up at 4 am to practice before the Mysore classes begin. (Pictures coming soon!) This week my respect level and honor for Mysore teachers the world over, and Nicole (Bodhi's rightful mum) has ascended to heavenly proportions.

The word "buddha" means "one who has achieved bodhi." Bodhi is also frequently translated as "awakening." I often feel awake in his presence... he is undoubtedly an instrumental teacher.

I couldn't get a picture of him because he doesn't sit still for long enough, but you would be smitten too by his gold and tawny locks.

Eka Pada Galavasana (picture). I feel my shoulders in places I have never before felt, tactile sensations deep in caverns and crevasses that have been sleeping in ignorant bliss. The feeling of soreness and tenderness a residue of change... or maybe it's just trying to keep Bodhi on the leash... either way, I love it.

I have been really inspired by Kino Macgregor's Ashtanga clips on You Tube... stunning. Wow.